Fair Winds and Following Seas
by softballchic34
Summary: Steve opens up to Danny about some of his experiences with the SEALs.


A/N: This is my first Hawaii Five-0 fic. I wrote it after reading a post on livejournal about the ribbons on Steve's Navy dress uniform. Steve has a Purple Heart ribbon with a star on it on his uniform indicating he's received the award twice. This contains spoilers for episodes up to 1.08: Ho'apono.

Disclaimer: I do not own Hawaii Five-0 or any of the characters, nor do I make any profit from this.

It was almost 7 pm on a Thursday night and Danny was just finishing up his reports and paper work for the day before heading home for the night. Chin and Kono had left almost an hour ago. Danny looked over at McGarrett's office. He was surprised to see Steve sitting at his desk in his full Navy dress blues. Steve had disappeared earlier in the afternoon without telling them where he was off to. He just mumbled something about 'something he had to do.'

Danny got up after shutting down his computer and making sure all his reports were in order. He entered Steve's office quietly. He knew Steve was aware of his presence even though he made no acknowledgement of Danny.

"Hey, where'd you disappear to this afternoon?" Danny asked quietly.

Steve looked up at Danny with a look on his face that Danny couldn't quite read and said simply, "Ed McKay's funeral was today."

"Ed McKay was the guide from the Missouri right?" Danny recalled the case from a couple years ago with the ex Navy SEAL who took a group of tourists hostage on the USS Missouri to prove his innocence in his wife's murder.

"I didn't know you kept in touch with him." Danny said as Steve nodded.

"Yeah, he served on the Arizona with my grandfather. We kept in touch and traded Navy stories. He would tell me stories about my grandfather."

"Ed McKay was one of the few that made it off the Arizona?" Danny asked.

"He wasn't on the ship that day. He lied about his age to enlist but the officers let him stay in the Navy as a message runner when they found out." Steve was quiet for a moment before saying, "It was nice, you know? I didn't really know that much about my grandfather, my dad was born a few months after he died and my grandmother died when I was 11 so I didn't really know much about him, other than what my dad told me about him, which wasn't that much."

Danny walked over to the case of military medals and folded flag that Steve has hanging on the wall in his office. "These your grandfather's medals?"

"Yeah these are his. Those are my dad's," Steve motioned towards the similar case that was on the adjacent wall, "and those mine." he pointed to the case, minus the flag, that was on the other side of the window.

Danny looked at each display carefully. Steve would occasionally give an explanation on the different medals and how they were earned.

"You have a Purple Heart?" Danny asked as he inspected Steve's medals.

"Two."

"How'd you get them?" Danny asked curiously.

Steve walked over to the mini-fridge and pulled out a couple of beers. He handed one to Danny before popping the top off his and taking a swig. "The first one was from Afghanistan in 2002. My SEAL team was on a mission in the mountains when we were attacked by enemy forces. The area was supposed to be clear but we had bad Intel. Everything went south from there. I took one in the shoulder during the firefight, one of my guys also got hurt pretty bad. We managed to complete the mission but our helicopter was shot down as they were coming in to pick us up. It was too dangerous for another chopper to get us out. It took us two days to get to a location where the Navy could land a chopper to evacuate us. By that time the wound got infected and I'd lost a lot of blood. I spent the next six weeks in Germany recovering before going back."

"Was your man ok?"

Steve nodded, "Yeah he made it out ok. The doctors repaired the damage as well as they could but he lost a kidney and couldn't return to active duty with the SEALs. He's married now with a couple of kids, living in Colorado."

"Was the second time in Afghanistan too?"

"No, the second was in Iraq in 2005. My team was on patrol when we were attacked by insurgents. We were hit with several RPGs and IEDs. I don't remember any of it but my whole team was pretty beat up. We lost two men and four others, including myself, were injured. I took some shrapnel to my right leg, just above the knee, and hit my head pretty hard during an explosion that caused some bleeding in my brain. I woke up a week later in Germany after a surgery to stop the bleeding in my brain and a couple to repair the damage to my leg."

"Wow, I'm sorry man." Danny said sincerely.

"After about a month in Germany I was well enough to come back to the States. I spent three months here recovering and rehabbing my leg. After I recovered I transferred to Naval Intelligence. That was the last time I was home. Right when I returned to duty I was handed Victor Hesse's file and spent the next five years chasing him around the world before I came back when my father was murdered two years ago."

Danny laid a comforting hand on Steve's shoulder; he and Steve didn't usually have heavy emotional conversations like this. When they did, they usually changed the subject at the end and acted like it didn't happen. "You want another beer?"

Steve smiled, "Yeah, beer would be good. You eaten yet?" Danny shook his head no, "Pizza's on me then."

"Let me see your wallet." Danny demanded before they left Steve's office.

Steve pulled it out of his back pocket to show Danny. "I even went to the ATM this morning."

"Good. And no pineapple on my pizza. It's sacrilegious."

"Oh come on Danno. Ham and pineapple pizza is good."

"Fruit and pizza do not belong in the same sentence!" Danny's hands were moving to punctuate each word.

"Have you ever tried pineapple on pizza Danny?"

"No! And I'll tell you why, fruit DOES NOT belong on pizza!"

"You should try it before you judge Danno."

"Would you stop calling me that?" Danny exclaimed.

Steve smirked, "What? It's catchy."


End file.
